Values defined with events and values defined separately can be used in exactly the same ways. DPL can tell whether you are referring to the value or to the event by the context.

Remember, though, if you assign numbers to the outcomes of a chance event as part of its definition and this event depends on other events, you must provide one number for each combination of conditioning event states and states of the chance event you are defining. Consider the following definition of the chance event called Research_Cost, which includes the cost of each outcome.

In this example, the numbers associated with the outcomes of the chance event are the same for all combinations of conditioning event states. The numbers only change with the states of the chance event you are defining. If the value depends only the states of the event whose name it shares, and not on this event's conditioning events, it may be simpler to define them separately.